Tag: Screenwriters

May 31st is approaching fast and we are getting ready to close the door on submissions for #GLCFF2019. We are preparing for our best year yet, as we’ve reorganized our categories and added some new ones. We are excited to get through our candidates for this year’s festival, and look forward to seeing you August 1-4, 2019. Get your tickets early!

A WORD FROM OUR TEAM

Greetings friends, fans, and family of the Great Lakes Christian Film Festival,

We want to thank you all for your continued support for this amazing event. TICKETS go on sale April 1, 2019. Whether you attend the event or not, feel free to support us as you see fit, via Sponsorship, Membership, Partnership, Volunteering, etc. Go to the Support page for the links.

It’s been a exciting journey so far since its inception in May 2014. The first year was dedicated to research and development in preparation of our inaugural season , launched August 2015. Starting from scratch, we have had to learn the hard way on how an event of this magnitude is conducted. We’ve had steady growth in 2016 and tested the waters at a new venue in 2017 at the Millennium Hotel with great success.

Our FINAL SUBMISSION deadline is MAY 31, 2019. DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!

We loved the venue so much, in 2018 we continued our partnership with them, expanded our options with another room and added more workshops. More films will be screened in 2019, as we booked more time for our selections. We’ve also revamped our submission categories and now have included scripts, animations, and student films.

We’ve premiered films in our market, upgraded our awards, added new merchandise, provided quality workshops, and network opportunities, and made many new friends and colleagues along the way. In 2019, we will continue to improve upon all the great ideas we’ve implemented and have some great new surprises for our attendees for this season.

Our festival is indeed an international event, yet we have the warm local feel with superb customer service and hospitality. We love our regional film community, and our state has been very film-friendly to the industry here in Western New York, not to mention accommodating to tourism. We are very excited for the future of this event as we expand our horizons and add new leadership to the GLCFF team.

Our of the toughest jobs for this type event is the marketing. We seek new ways to creatively promote and improve the awareness of our event, locally and regionally, and encourage volunteers to join our team. We’ve had great support, over the years, in our market from our local media outlets, like TCT TV and WDCX Radio, as well as our local newspaper The Buffalo News. If you would like to cover our event or would like to book an interview, please reach out to us. I look forward to hearing from you, on your ideas and comments, and look forward to meeting you at our next Film Festival.

Buffalo to host 4th annual Christian Film Festival

Buffalo, NY (July 19, 2018) – The 2018 “Great Lakes Christian Film Festival” will be hosted at The Millennium, 2040 Walden Ave, Buffalo, NY 14225 between Friday August 3rd – Sunday August 5th, 2018. The festival organizers have selected over 100 films as Official Selections and will screen over 80 films from around the world, representing over 15 countries, screening narrative feature and shorts films, documentaries, student films, and music videos, as well as, many up and coming film trailers. Workshops are also scheduled on Saturday afternoon with a variety of speakers on various topics. The festival is open to the public and offers an array of subject material for any viewer, from Action and Drama, to Animation and Biographies – there is something for everyone to enjoy.

This year 8 films were nominated for Best Feature Film, including “Summer of ’67”, the story of two sisters that surviving in the shadow of their mother’s suicide, struggling to live their lives and protect their loved ones in the face of the Vietnam War. This film, Written and Directed by Sharon Wilharm, is a fictional look at the Vietnam War based on the perspective of the wives, girlfriends, and mothers of those men aboard the USS Forrestal.

Also showing, the Buffalo Premiere of the award winning feature “A Heart That Forgives” – a great story of God’s love through the healing power of forgiveness, with an all-star cast including, Carl Anthony Payne (actor and producer, known for the Martin TV Series), Lorey Hayes (actress known for her work on Dreamgirls and NCIS), and Charles Malik Whitfield who has starred in dozens of prime-time shows and feature films, but one of his proudest professional moments so far is his leading role in the Emmy-winning mini-series, “The Temptations.”

The Great Lakes Christian Film Festival also brings an assortment of fantastic Documentaries of a wide range of topics and biographies, including the wonderful story of two women in China in “Song of the Wilderness”. 70-year-old Mother Xu travelled 200 km to the mountain area of Yimeng, Shandong province, far way from her own children. She lived in a cottage without a rooftop while taking care of Fan Jianxiu, a paralytic. Despite the sarcasm and ridicules, she persevered in looking after Fan for ten years as if it was one day. Yet still the sound of her praises spread out and rising from the wilderness.

The festival includes a diverse group of workshops, like one that special guest speaker Tina Marie Griffin will present called “Hollywood Exposed” – a behind-the-scenes look at the influences in today’s Pop Culture through entertainment and media, such as, Television, Gaming, Social Media and Music.

Buffalo is a city on the rise! An All-American City known not only for sports obsession, but for having the “Best Food in America”, as well as, a growing world-class medical and research community. Innovative developments are happening around town such as Canalside, which is home to a collection of restaurants, shops and seasonal outdoor activities. Plus, Buffalo is just 30 minutes away from location of one of the 7 wonders of the world, Niagara Falls. In recent years, more and more Hollywood producers are using the Buffalo area as a backdrop for their film projects, such as “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “Marshall” and “The First Purge”.

The Great Lakes Christian Film Festival was created in May 2014 by Founder and Executive Director Shawn Patrick Greene. Since its inception, over 500 films have been submitted in hopes of being selected and screened in front of the visiting guests and local Western New York attendees. Over 100 films are Official Selections in this year’s film festival. Walk-up registration begins Friday August 3rd at 9 am and is $35 for all 3 days or $15 for a single day. Registration and tickets sales are open online now on the website.

Greg Batiansila is a writer, director and producer who has worked in and around filmmaking for over twenty years. His work as an overachieving production assistant led to work as an overachieving location scout, which allowed him lots of time on commercial sets.

Greg’s father, the son of a Filipino from tiny Bantayan Island in the province of Cebu, Philippines, grew up in housing projects in the shadow of Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans. Greg’s mother fled American aggression in World War II and ultimately escaped communist East Germany to West Germany before immigrating to the United States.

Even when he wasn’t on sets, Greg was writing. He wrote plays, short stories, a book on spec. He wrote articles, movie reviews, and scripts, feature scripts, shorts, spec scripts for a publishing house, radio commercials, tv ads.

Greg found himself back on sets, this time as a principle at an ad agency. He wrote and directed videos of all kinds for clients of all sorts, from GE Healthcare to AirStrip to Fiserv to the highest-rated political ad in the Wisconsin in 2010. Whether it was a parody of “The Office,” animated product videos, talking head videos…product videos shot on location all around the United States, Greg wrote, produced and worked on all of them.

Through that time, he was able to work with some brilliant cinematographers, animators, and behind-the-scenes experts, all of whom helped him gain confidence for his foray into independent narrative storytelling. The Lost Key was shot with cameras and lenses borrowed from Greg’s friends.

In 2010, Greg’s youngest daughter passed away just days before her second birthday. On the day of her funeral, his father died. Those events spurred him to strive earnestly to tell stories and work tirelessly to create beauty in a world that needs it.

Working with a tight-knit clique of actors, he created, wrote and produced three seasons of a web series entitled “Leaving Eden” that gathered around 50,000 views a drama selection at ITVFest, amongst other critical praise.

The show featured original music from independent artists all over the world. Music is a critical part of Greg’s storytelling.

Greg had 2 shorts films as official selections in our Great Lakes Christian Film Festival in 2016 and 2017. In 2016 “Runner” was Nominated Best Short Film [over 20 minutes] and in 2017 “The Lost Keys” was Nominated Best Comedy. He was also on our Producer/Director Panel Discussion in our 2017 Workshops. Greg’s project “The Shepherd” is the 3rd installment in the “Lost” parables.

A WORD FROM OUR TEAM

Greetings friends, fans, and family of the Great Lakes Christian Film Festival,

It’s been a exciting journey so far since our inception in May 2014. We took the first year to research and prepare to launch our first Film Festival in August 2015. Starting from scratch, we have had to learn the hard way on how an event of this magnitude is conducted. We’ve had steady growth in 2016 and tested the waters at a new venue in 2017 at the Millenium Hotel with great success. We are not where we want to be just yet but we are making great strides to provide an exceptional event for your enjoyment.

We’ve premiered films in our market, upgraded our awards, added new merch, provided quality workshops, and network opportunities, and made many new friends and colleagues along the way. In 2018, we will continue to improve upon all the great ideas we’ve implemented and have some great new surprises for our attendees for this season.

Our festival is an international event yet we have a warm local feel with superb customer service and hospitality. We love our regional film community, and our state has been very film-friendly to the industry here in Western New York, not to mention accommodating to turism. We are very excited for the future of this event as we expand our horizons and add new leadership to the GLCFF team. We’ve had great support in our market from our Faith-based media outlets, like TCT TV and WDCX Radio and continue to partner with them this season.

Please reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you on your ideas and comments. I look forward to meeting you at our next Film Festival.